


Young & Menace

by PikaB119



Series: Nerve Damage [2]
Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Tamers
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I still don't know how to tag~, Impmon is a loveable asshole, Takato is an emotional wreck, Unbeta'd, implied minor character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 09:59:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17916602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PikaB119/pseuds/PikaB119
Summary: What is that famous saying?Once is an accident, twice is coincidence...?





	Young & Menace

**Author's Note:**

> Still might be OOC, but I am trying to keep everyone as in character as possible! Title from yet another FOB song; Young & Menace.

* * *

**_Young & Menace_ **

* * *

 

“How do you keep getting yourself into these situations, Kid?” 

 

For the record, Takato would like to point out that he isn’t doing it on purpose. It’s entirely possible that large, devoid of human life parking garages and him simply don’t mix --some kind of allergy or something that causes hostile digimon to appear out of thin air and attack whenever he steps foot within spitting distance.

 

Impmon probably won’t believe him if he says that though, so Takato wisely keeps his mouth shut.

 

**“BADDA-BOOM!!”** \--At least this time, it’s not an adult-level, fire-breathing, dragon of a digimon trying to eat him.

 

_ “OW! Bad small one!”  _ No, instead Takato made the grave mistake of catching the attention of a nonsense talking goblin-looking thing.  _ “You hurt Goblimon!” _

 

Takato can  _ hear  _ the sneer Impmon gives at that. “Yeah, that’s kinda the point, Nitwit!”

 

“Must you insult it?!” Takato feels like an idiot as soon as the words leave his mouth. It doesn’t help that Impmon looks at him like he’s suddenly grown a second head and sprouted wings.

 

“Why. Do you care. About what the digimon trying to  _ kill  _ you’s feelings?!”

 

“I don’t!” And really, he doesn’t. But Takato is all nervous, manic fear right now. He can’t fight a digimon. He can barely take care of himself as of lately. The sheer fact that  _ this  _ is the situation Impmon’s found him in is proof enough of that.

 

“Whatever! -- **BADDA-BOOM!!** ”

* * *

If he’s honest, Takato’s actually probably the most tolerable human Impmon’s come across so far. Prone to getting himself nearly killed, sure. But that doesn’t necessarily make him bad.

 

What  _ does  _ make Takato-Takato bad is the river of tears and train of snot running down his face as he tries to haphazardly bandage up Impmon’s arm.

 

It’s not even a bad injury. Barely even a scuff, but the kid acts like Impmon’s about to drop dead on him. And he can’t quite wrap his head around why. --Sure, he saved the kid’s life twice now, but that shouldn’t constitute this degree of dramatics.

 

“I’m sorry,” the kid apologizes for what has to be the millionth time in the last hour and a half alone.

 

“I’ve told you already, it’s  _ fine _ .”

 

“But still-!”

 

Impmon sighs. The kid’s a traumatized mess right now. Trying to reason with him’s like trying to talk to a brick wall. “Listen Takato-Takato.”

 

“That’s not-!”

 

“--If a few scrapes and bruises were enough to kill me, I wouldn’t be here right now. The dumbass just got a lucky shot in, it’s fine.”  _ (I’m not fragile like you.)  _ He doesn’t say that last bit aloud.

 

From what Impmon can see, Takato’s self-confidence is low.

 

(He won’t say he’s been watching the kid.)

 

It’s not that it doesn’t exist. But the kid’s got the beginnings of a martyr complex brewing somewhere just under that barely there ego of his. And while Impmon won’t say he’s attached, he’s at least currently invested in keeping the kid alive. Better then to nip any crazy thoughts of flinging himself in front of the next digimon attack that comes flying at Impmon’s face in the bud than let it germinate and take root.

 

“But-!”

 

“But nothing. Now wipe your face off before I decide to leave!” Impmon wouldn’t, of course. As much of a dick as he goes out of his way to be, even he couldn’t bring himself to leave the kid alone to stew. That just sounds like a bad idea all around.

 

The kid doesn’t need to know that though.

 

“How did you even find me?”

 

“ _ Hah?  _ How did I find you? --That was easy!”  _ (I’ve been following you since that night.)  _ “I just followed the stench of helpless damsel in distress, and voila! I found your sorry patootie trying to get mince meated by a goblimon.”

 

“--I’m-!”

 

“Stop apologizing!” Impmon runs his hand over his face. There’s an overwhelming urge to smack the kid upside his scruffy head, but Impmon thinks better of it. --The kid’s still bruised and beat up himself, the concussion he’d get from Impmon swinging at him isn’t going to help. “I’ve told you already, it’s fine!”

 

“I-O-Okay…” The kid is all nervous, teary smiles and wringing hands. It’s not much better than the outright sobbing from earlier, but Impmon’ll take it over the hysteria that had followed in the aftermath of his fight with Goblimon.

 

“Sheesh, Kid. --If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you actually cared what happened to little ol’ me.” Impmon laughs then. Tries to turn it into a joke, but when he realizes the kid isn’t laughing along with him he looks back up.

 

Takato-Takato stands -- _ kneels  _ really, just a foot in front of him; expression serious in a way Impmon hadn’t seen across the months he’d spent observing the boy.

 

“I would.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“I would. --If you went missing or something happened. I…” Takato looks down then, refuses outright to meet Impmon’s own gaze. There’s a strange pulling sensation at the base of where his heat would be if he were human like the kid. “We may have only met twice now, but you saved my life.”

 

“Yeah, on a whim.”

 

“On a whim or not, you still went out of your way to save me!” the kid’s eyes gleam when he says that, leaning in close and sparkling. “If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t be alive!”

 

“And I said you’re welcome!”

 

“Yeah, but ;”Okay” doesn’t mean you aren’t hurting or don’t need help.”

 

“Whatever,”

 

_ (Rolling his eyes he turns away, much too blinded by one light to notice the other.) _

 

_ (Later, Impmon will wonder if that single conversation wasn’t the one that sealed their fate.) _

 

_ (He will remember two things; 1) He doesn’t believe in Fate, and 2) Even if he did, he’s too possessive to let something that fickle decide who his chosen partner is.) _

**Author's Note:**

> So it dawns on me as I was writing this that I forgot to mention this in Centuries. But I'm trying to use the official Japanese names for all characters and digimon attacks. Which in the case of Impmon, is actually Night of Fire.
> 
> I have a headcannon born from growing up with the dub version as a kid, and growing attached to that version of Impmon's bantering accent. So while the attack is definitely Night of Fire, and most other Impmon probably call it that, this Impmon in particular just happens to say "Bada Boom/Badda-Boom" whenever he uses it.


End file.
